The Return of Maeve 8
Doubar's Loyalty
Doubar wasn't sure he was ready for this, but he knew he had to do it. Not only was it expected of him, like it had been for Rongar and Firouz and will be for the others, but Maeve's very life (and therefore Sinbad's) depended on it.
He would do anything to see his little brother happy, and saving Maeve from Turok's evil spell would ensure his brother's happiness for a life time.
He glanced about the room and frowned at the star pentacle. Magic simply made him nervous. It was unpredictable; and it left him and others vulnerable to those who used their powers for evil deeds.
Such as right now; and his frown grew.
Turok was back; and according to Sinbad, Rumina, who he had thought was dead, was alive and in the thick of things again as well.
He knew Rumina wouldn't be pulling any hits this time around. She had been hurt one too many times by Sinbad to let things go, but she did have her own ways of going about things.
It was this 'honor' that he saw inside her that allowed them to both win against her and loose to her too. For there had been a time or two when it was easy to see that she easily had the upper hand and could have killed them all.
It was with this 'honor', that the crew had been able to escape her clutches and not face her wrath when her strength returned later.
Turok on the other hand was pure cold-hearted, single-mindedness. He made a plan and stuck to it. No matter what he felt for the opposition, Turok never deviated from the established plan.
That made him dangerous.
It made him nervous.
Caipra had said that this was Turok's plan, but what was it that the older black sorcerer wanted? What did he hope to gain with Maeve's release?
It didn't make sense to him at all. If it was a sense of 'repayment' from Sinbad, Turok would have simply given Maeve to him to earn Sinbad's debt. This roundabout way of doing things didn't seem to add up to him.
Did Turok hope to gain Maeve's allegiance for carving the path for them to save her? If so, he had to have known that Maeve would never think to do such a thing. She was too pure and righteous to even think of using darker magics. While Maeve was easy to anger, she never used that anger for darker deeds.
Did Turok hope to gain a path through the dimensions in order to get to DimDim when they completed the tasks? It was a well known fact (even to him) that such magics release large amounts of ambient magic that is usable to any who had the skill to draw upon it.
With that thought, his face paled and he twisted to look at Caipra urgently, frantically.
The older woman's dark eyes found his, and the darkly warm depths were marred by worry and fear.
Fear of what Turok was after;
Fear for DimDim's well being;
Fear for the crew who tested themselves in Turok's evil plans, and…
Fear for Maeve's very life.
Doubar swallowed harshly and stood up from his reclining position against the wall as Caipra stood up and said, "I am ready."
As he lay down in the white star, he closed his eyes and tried to get comfortable as she conjured,
"From this hour until your return,
this candle of hope I will let burn.
My lord and lady, watch over you.
Keep you safe, from harms view.
From now until you return to me.
This is my will, so mote it be."
With a flash of white light, Doubar's normally animated face and body was still and silent. If the crew hadn't already experienced this aspect of the spell, they would have panicked when they couldn't see Doubar's rather large chest move up and down with life drawing breaths.
Sinbad released his own breath; two down, four more to go.
Doubar wasn't sure where he was.
He wasn't even sure if he was still alive.
His body felt like it weighed both everything and nothing.
His face was hot and cold and his eyes felt like they had the weight of the world on them forcing them and keeping them closed.
With a Herculean effort, he forced his eyes open expecting to see something from his darkest fears….
….all he saw….
Foggy whiteness floating around in eerie swirls and twirls.
Nothingness all around him.
Disoriented Doubar tried to stand up.
To his horror, he realized he couldn't move his muscles and up was down and down was up.
As he tried to move his hands to his sword at his side, he could feel a nervous tic appear over his left eye.
This nothingness both muted his emotions and set them a flame with urgent signals to his brain.
(Distantly he was sure Firouz would be proud of his last thought.)
With all his reserved strength, he pushed himself to a standing (he thinks) position through the murky weight crushing him on all sides, and then felt the panic he had held off being to set in.
This nothingness had muted everything!
There was nothing to hear to give him clues about this place like the ports they arrived in told him about the people that lived around them.
There was nothing to feel to give him hints about the land here like other geographic lands had.
There was nothing to taste in the air to keep him upbeat and cheery like on the seas.
There was nothing to see in this vacant place that told him what to expect like the open skies told him the weather.
And lastly, there was nothing to smell in this place to show him the way to life sustaining foods like so many places before had done.
With the weight still pushing him down, Doubar felt a shiver crawl down his back. He knew someone was watching him.
Like Rongar, Doubar had always been able to know when another person was around him; this presence was wrong. It was dark, it was evil, it was malevolent in it's persistence to see him on his knees bowing in subservience to it.
Doubar wasn't going to let that happen!
If this was, indeed, Turok like he thought; he wasn't going to give the dark sorcerer the pleasure of seeing him running around like a chicken with its head cut off.
Again, with a mighty heave, Doubar all but threw himself into a standing position in this whiteness.
As he made to challenge the dark presence, he amazingly heard something so glorious and pure that he almost thought that he was going insane.
But at the same time, he shouldn't have heard it at all.
It was a little girl's cries of pain.
Worried instead of angry, Doubar trudged through the murky atmosphere trying to follow those amazingly yet terrified sounds to its source.
As he trudged through the blankness that surrounded him, he called out, "Where are you lass? Let me know where you are sweetie!"
Every few steps though, Doubar felt the sensation he had felt only twice in his life: being pulled under the waves.
The cries simply got worse and Doubar desperately tried to run to her aid.
His first impulse, as always, was to run.
He couldn't.
It felt like he had five hundred pounds chained to either leg.
Then he tried to jump through the ghostly swirls and twirls.
He didn't even clear the 'ground'. A curious sensation since there wasn't a so-called ground to neither jump nor run off of.
In a spark of ingenuity, he let himself fall forward and stop parallel to the ground. With a grin at his own cleverness he swung his arms over his head and kicked his legs.
To his amazement, he felt himself move forward!
After a few minutes of marveling at swimming through the air, he found the tiny lass curled up on the 'ground' crying into her arms wrapped around her knees.
Doubar arched his back and threw himself back onto his feet, knelt down beside her, place his large but friendly hand on her frail shoulder and asked softly, "What's wrong little one? Why are you here?"
The young girl's sniffles calmed down a bit at his touch and his voice, and with a small, final snuffle, she raised her head.
Doubar felt his world tip once more. This tiny lass was no more than four and wore a necklace that was familiar to him: a golden band with two gold orbs ending at the half circle on the collarbone.
A golden torc; like Maeve had worn once.
Doubar felt a lump in his throat.
Her fiery golden red hair fell in soft waves to her shoulders.
Her sea blue eyes were bloodshot with her tears.
She gave him a tiny smile, and he saw that she had a pair of adorable dimples on each of her golden cheeks.
Doubar blinked in shock.
If he didn't know better, he would have sworn that this was a daughter of Sinbad and Maeve!
He was broken out from his thoughts, when the girl latched on to his arm and said with tears beginning to fall once more from her red eyes, "A mean man called me an evil witch! But I'm not! My family trusted him! Not me! They tried to burn me!"
She pushed her face into his shoulder and wailed in helplessness.
Doubar felt the emotions as they rolled through her tiny body. Who could do such a thing to a tiny wee one?
Whoever it was, was a right bastard to be sure!
Doubar asked her gently as he placed a large hand over her fiery waves, "Why did he do that?"
He might be stuck here until he figured out what kind of test this was, but he'd make sure that she got out of this mess if nothing less.
He was sure Maeve would understand….
The girl raised her head, sniffled, rubbed her eyes with the back of a fisted hand, and replied, "I don't know why he did it; all I did was make a candle burn."
Doubar smiled and said as a fond memory of Maeve's first fireball on board ship came to mind, "That's not so bad."
He continued with a large comical grin and large eyes, "I have a friend who uses fire too. In fact, the first time I met her, she was practicing with her fireballs, and nearly burnt me, my brother, and another friend of ours."
The girl grinned at his face and words, and Doubar felt his heart twinge again at her cuteness: she was missing her two front baby teeth.
Doubar then asked because he wanted to knock some sense into this guy, "What does this man look like?"
She tilted her head onto his shoulder, placed her thumb in her mouth, and said honestly, "He has shoulder length golden brown hair, sea blue eyes, wears a tight white shirt with blue and black tight vest, black leather pants, and he has a big bracelet on his left wrist!"
Doubar nearly dropped her as her description took hold of his thoughts.
Anger, shock, dismay, frustration, rolled through him at his brother's picture appeared in his mind.
He couldn't believe that his brother could do such a thing. It just didn't make sense! Why would Sinbad harm a child? Especially a magical child that uses fire…like Maeve did.
Doubar put her down, not a nicely as he could have, glared at her, and yelled, "That's a lie! My brother wouldn't do such a thing!"
She burst in tears and screamed with bunched fists rubbing the tears as they fell from her innocently wide eyes, "I'm not lying you big meanie!"
Doubar froze at her words and tears.
Guilt immediately sprung from him. How could he have made such a tiny lass cry in such a way? Perhaps it is simply another man, with similar characteristics as Sinbad's?
He did want to help her though.
Not only was it the right thing to do, but she looked so much like Maeve and Sinbad that he almost couldn't resist wanting to hear her call him 'uncle' Doubar.
He pulled her close again, but she shoved him away and said with a very familiar frown in place and fists placed on hips, "The man said that people would try to be my friend and lie about it…"
Doubar ignored her glares; after all he had, had plenty of practice, and picked her up to rest her on his hip that didn't have his sword strapped to it.
The girl gave up with an annoyed sigh, also very familiar, but snuggled up into him and asked with innocuous, helpless, hurting eyes that swam with unshed tears, "You'll help me, right Uncle Doubar?"
Doubar smiled and said even as a warning sounded in his head, something wasn't quite right here, but he wasn't sure what yet, "Of course I will little one, Uncle Doubar will protect you."
The warning only got louder as he walked through the swirls and eerie twirls.
The murky heaviness was gone now.
Doubar felt his unease return the farther in they went. This wasn't how the nothingness had acted before.
Whereas before he couldn't feel the ground, now he felt a good solid foundation under him and the air was easier to push through with his strong walking gait.
Since he didn't want her to know, he asked more questions about herself, "Where do you live? Who are you mommy and daddy? Do you have any pets? How old are you?"
She cheerfully babbled out her answers, and then Doubar asked his final question sure in his attempts to withhold his unease at their situation from her and his attempts to make her feel better, "How did you get here little one?"
She stopped talking and grew serious.
She met his gaze and answered, "I don't know. I was playing when this woman with black-brown hair and lots and lots of pretty jewelry sent me here."
She paused and added with a frown and a tilt of the head, "The mean man called her evil."
Doubar frowned at that. An evil, black-brown haired woman with lots of jewelry; it sounded like Rumina to him.
"Can you tell me more of this evil lady?"
She replied hotly, "The woman had pretty, blue, silky clothes: a half shirt and low pants with a blue jewel hanging in between her greenish-brown eyes, and she has a big bauble filled with fire around her neck."
Doubar mind told him from an earlier conversation with Caipra…Rumina's gift from Scratch....
Now he was sure of whom this evil lady was, but just to be sure, "Do you know her name little one?"
As he said this, he felt like hitting himself over the back of the head. This is supposed to be a test in order to save Maeve's life! He can't go off on crusades on a whim just because some little child caught him fancy with her looks!
Then, "Rumina."
Doubar fell silent as he thought about what he should do.
On the one hand, he had a duty to protect this innocent baby; but he had to save his friend, Maeve.
He had to find and pass his test; who is to say that this wasn't his test? Whose is it to say it is?
He was just so confused! This was normally Sinbad's job: analyzing all the information and then coming up with a battle plan.
His strength lied in supplementing an already existing strength, not creating it out of nothing.
Then something in the mists set him on edge.
Placing the child on the ground behind him, Doubar watched with eyes jumping to and fro in search of the enemy that knew he was close.
How he wished for Rongar or even Dermott's eagle eyes at the moment.
All he could see was those annoying swirls as they danced into all sorts of creepy things just inside a person's side views (peripheral vision).
There, in the dark, white, nothingness, a male figure appeared causing the girl to burst into more tears, grab Doubar's pants' leg, and beg, "I'm not evil! I'm not evil! Please don't kill me!"
Doubar felt his body tense in anxiousness and anticipation for a fight as the figure grew more and more distinct.
At the same time, he felt his heart pound under his breast and his palms grow sweaty.
Doubar's whole body was ready for this battle, his mind on the other hand, wasn't.
If it truly was Sinbad, he wasn't sure what he would do. He had always trusted and followed his younger brother through all their adventures with a loyalty to his blood that knew no limits. His faith in his brother had always been resolute and unshakable.
He just couldn't believe that his little brother, his brother who adored all children (even if he was uncomfortable with babies), could indifferently claim that a child was evil and watch her burn.
It just didn't sit well with him.
But, if what the lass said was true, his brother really was after her and wanted her dead for some evil misdeeds in her past.
A past that was only four years old.
As the man's form burst through the mists like the Nomad pushed through the churning waters of the seven seas, Doubar's heart froze within his breast.
Sinbad, his precious little brother, stood before him dressed exactly as the lass had described him.
His shoulder length golden brown hair hung in sweaty clumps and stuck to his bearded face at odd angles. His face was painted with droplets of red blood and stained his lips an ugly ruby red. His seas blue eyes were narrowed with anger and tinged with a shadow he had only ever seen in his worst nightmares. They showed the darkness of all those he had killed. His clothes, which gave him a closed off and darkly serious appearance, were splattered with the blood of the fallen. His sword, a gift from the crew on his twenty-fifth birthday, was dripping with thick, innocent blood, and his rainbow bracelet was darkened black; no color could be seen at all by the First Mate's frightened and anxious sky blue eyes as they searched for any hint of his brother's soul within the eyes he had grown to love so dearly.
The girl's cried grew even more panicked as Sinbad grinned, showing Doubar a pair of golden teeth, and raised his blood dripped sword so that the tip was pointed directly at her heart, and growled out, "Give her to me brother."
Doubar swallowed and felt his brow begin to glisten with sweat as it beaded up around his eyes, and said as he pushed the girl behind him, hiding her heart with his body, "No, little brother…"
Sinbad's narrow eyes constricted into slits as his grip tightened and he said, "This doesn't concern you Doubar, move out of my way."
Doubar gripped his sword in instinct to the present threat to him and his charge, and said again, "No, Sinbad, she's a child, what possible evil has she committed that begets her death?"
Sinbad lowered the sword, stared at him with disbelieving eyes and said slowly as if he was explaining something to a misbehaving child, "She's not innocent Doubar, she has killed plenty of people with her temper tantrums. She needs to be killed to save the rest of the villagers."
Doubar snorted and replied, "All children have tantrums Sinbad, you and I included. No child in innocent of that."
Sinbad's face contorted in fury as he swung his sword out at Doubar, making the large man raise his own to parry the swing, as the younger brother yelled, "But WE did not killed dozens of children like she did!"
Doubar winced at that.
This girl admitted to having magic; magic that dealt in the element of fire. It was extremely probable that in a fit of childish rage, that all children felt, that her magic overwhelmed her and killed those around her.
But Doubar held his ground against his brother and tried again, "She's just a child who has no control of her magic. Surely she can't be held accountable for a childish rage?"
Sinbad reared back, swung his sword around to an upwards arc towards his brother's neck and said as Doubar hastily threw himself and the girl away from his brother's deadly aim, and Doubar felt the first stirrings of true anger towards his brother for his actions.
From the beginning, Doubar had only defended himself, now he was going to go on the offensive!
With the girl safely away from the brothers, who were attacking each other, one to kill and the other to defend, Doubar picked up his pace and began to swing his large double edged cutlass against his brother's slimmer sword.
"Sinbad, she's just a child!" he cried out as he swung his cutlass in a downward diagonal cut.
Sinbad easily met each thrust and parry from his older brother and said, "She's not a child! She's a demon in disguise Doubar!"
"She's not a demon!"
"She is!"
As their swords crossed and their bodies clashed together in their battle of wills, the girl who had been forgotten about was grinning a frightening, smug smile.
For Sinbad was right, she was a demon.
A very familiar demon at that.
Sinbad pushed his brother away with a strength Doubar didn't know he had. As Doubar landed roughly on his backside and his cutlass tossed away from his grasp, Sinbad launched himself over his body in a forward flip, landed on his feet beside the horrified girl and raised his sword for the final swing.
Doubar, unable to let this happen, not only to his brother, whose soul would be forever damaged by this action, but to the girl who he still believed in, threw himself bodily at Sinbad.
Sinbad grunted in pain as he crashed face first into the nothingness with Doubar's heavy weight bashed into him from behind.
Doubar felt a flash of regret for harming his brother, but pushed it aside as they rolled to a stop with him on top of his brother. This regret grew into guilt for fighting with him, but he couldn't let Sinbad kill an innocent child. Sinbad, the Sinbad he knew and loved dearly as a brother, an uncle, and as a father, would never forgive himself when he came to his senses. He felt a strange power flow through him and it seemed to hover over the dark image of his brother.
His brother's visage grimaced in pain from Doubar's weight, and in that moment of weakness, the energy from Doubar seemed to be absorbed into Sinbad.
As Doubar pushed himself up a bit, to ease the weight off of his lighter brother, he found himself looking into clear sea blue eyes and a cleanly washed face of his brother.
"Little brother??" he asked uncertainly.
He couldn't believe it.
Was his brother back?
Sinbad sighed warily, pushed himself up to his elbows, and said, "Doubar…why won't you believe me? She's the devil Doubar."
Doubar sighed and answered as he waved his hand towards the red haired angel, "Look at her Sinbad, does she look like a devil to you?"
Sinbad sighed, lightly pushed Doubar up and off of him, and said as he knelt down at his brother's feet, "Doubar, please believe me…she's The Devil, she's Scratch in disguise."
Doubar's whole posture froze. Could his brother be right? Could this innocent baby be the goat-hoofed demon in disguise?
Doubar's arm was suddenly seized by tiny hands and a frightened pair of sea blue eyes looked up at him beseechingly, "No! He's lying Uncle Doubar! Please don't let him hurt me!"
Doubar's conscious was once more sending warning signals to his brain. Something wasn't right about this whole situation.
Doubar glanced at his brother warily, but Sinbad was still kneeling there on the ground with his head bowed towards him in total honesty.
The girl's sea blue eyes were pouring tears as her tiny hands fisted his shirt with begging hands. Her sniffles lodged a fist in his gut, but Sinbad's words echoed in his head unrelentingly.
'…she's The Devil, she's The Devil…she's The Devil…she's Scratch in disguise…'
Doubar wanted to believe Sinbad.
He did.
But that tiny lass had already grabbed his heart with her adorable face…
On the other hand, he had been fooled by the demon before…
His brother was still there and unmoving….
He knew he had to make a decision and fast…
He closed his eyes and for a brief moment he wavered in his decision. Was this the right one? Would this ruin him??
He reached over to the tiny hands and reluctantly pulled them off and stepped behind his brother, who with a smile of gratitude towards him, reached for his sword and stood up.
The girl's tears abruptly stopped and her tiny, adorable face transformed into an ugly, sneering visage reminiscent of the goat demon.
"So, you saw through my little illusion tubby, good for you." Sneered the girl as an evil, fiery red, glow began to surround her petite body.
Doubar shuddered in revulsion at the sound of the Demon's voice coming out of the adorable body.
Although he felt a fierce burst of pride at his brother; he knew his faith and loyalty to the young captain hadn't been for not.
Sinbad placed himself between the demon and his brother and said, "You lose Scratch."
The sword sang through the air and met with only air as Doubar was surrounded by a white light.
When he opened his eyes and found himself back inside the circle of white candles with Caipra's old yet beautiful face peering down at him with a soft, loving smile.
As Sinbad rushed to help him stand, Caipra sighed tiredly and said with pride in her voice as se sat back down on her chair, "Well done Doubar, well done."
Doubar nodded unable to speak.
He had been shaken to the core by this test, and a part of him hated Caipra for making him go through it, but at the same time he felt even more resolute in his position, forever behind and supporting his brother in all life's struggles and adventures.
Bryn looked about them, night was falling, but no one seemed to be tired.
In fact, Rongar, Firouz, and even Doubar, though wary, seemed energized and eager for more.
She gulped and said bravely, "I'll go next."